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Herbs - Australia

Herbs for cottage garden in SA

21 years ago

Hi Everyone,

Could anyone tell me the best herbs for a cottage garden in South Australia?

I have lavender and two types of rosemary growing now, would love to have some more.

Any help gratefully recieved :-)

HAppy herb growing

Gill

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Comments (4)

andy_sa
21 years ago
Depends on whether you want culinary, medicinal or decorative herbs. Some perennials that I've found do particularly well in SA with little attention/water are:

Santolina (cotton lavender)
Perennial basil
Curry plant
Wormwood
Southernwood
Thyme (all varieites)
Dyer's chamomile
Winter savory
Emperor's mint (Micromeria)
Lemon grass
Lemon verbena
Citronella
Scented perlargoniums
Sage (all varieties)
Rue

Hope this list helps - it's by no means conclusive.
Daisyduckworth
21 years ago
Is there such a thing as a cottage garden without ROSES? These are herbs, too, you know. Also heliotrope, day lillies and many other flowering plants. Chives, garlic chives and parsley or chervil make terrific borders.
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Comments (21)
Herbalbetty, do you have pics of your garden? It sounds wonderful. I grow herbs for decoration, food, and medicine. I buy at least 6 every spring as many don't winter over here. I especially like variegated and purple foliage plants. Oregano, purple sage, rosemary, marjoram, most thymes, Dusty Miller are only grown as annuals. Even lemon balm is not winter hardy here. I plant many at the edge of the patio so they are easy to get to and enjoy. In my main perennial garden I also have lavender, chives, flax, lovage, Johnny-Jump-Ups, feverfew, rue, mallow, horseradish, lamb's ears, Lady's Mantle, as well as red/pink/yellow yarrow that return, some self-seed. Some are only decorative in my garden altho historically have been used medicinally. We removed 3 stones in our patio and planted creeping thyme which returns. I didn't plant it this year but had a welcome parsley volunteer in a part of my garden where parsley has never been. I've seeded various herbs over the years. One year I even seeded rosemary, which can be difficult, and had lots of little plants by the end of the summer. They don't overwinter outdoors and are not easy to keep as houseplants I've found. We have red clover growing wild and I may plant more as a ground cover in my new garden. One year I had 10 different kinds of mint and kept them all in large pots. We buried the pots to overwinter, left them in place and they started to escape. So all but 2 were moved next to the barn where I think the deer ate them and they disappeared. Historically gardens were grown primarily for food and medicine so herbals were part of this. The fact gardens are decorative was a secondary function, now of course frequently the primary function. I like a combination.
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Spatzbear
21 years ago
All the above plus coriander, feverfew, pyrethrum, marjoram, oregano, lemon balm, nasturtiums, etc. That's all I can think of right now. :)
Jamus_S
21 years ago
I'll make some suggestions if you like. Space out some perennial herbs for starters, low ones at the front of the beds, thyme, winter savory, lemon savory, chives. Then some taller perennial herbs like oregano, margoram, golden margoram, calamint, sage etc. Then at the back or in the middle of the bed taller things like your rosemary, wormwood, lemon verbena, rue, a bay tree (essential) etc. This will give you an all year round base which you can plant around with annual things like fennel, dill, parsley, basil, etc. A herb garden run like this will self seed many annual herbs so once you have them you don't need to buy them again, you just move the little seedlings around and pull out the ones you don't need. I've only listed european-ish type culinary herbs. If you're into medicinal plants or asian culinary herbs you could incorporate those. things like lemongrass and curry leaf tree form a good perennial base for an asian herb garden. Or mix it all up, it's up to you. Keep plants lke rosemary and lavendar well pruned so they are compact and neat. If you spend a bit of time trimming and shaping your herb garden it'll look beautiful. things like wormwood can get out of control and smother other things.
Have fun!!!

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